Moscow remains the world's most expensive city for expatriates with London close behind, an annual cost of living survey published today said.
According to the survey, Dublin has moved up two places to 16th place since March last year and is now only marginally less expensive than New York. In 2006 Dublin was 8 per cent less expensive than New York.
Currency movements were the main factor driving multiple changes of position in the worldwide survey, which ranks 143 cities against each other with New York as the benchmark.
Seoul was the third-placed city, followed by Tokyo and Hong Kong, all down one from 2006. Copenhagen was up two in sixth place, Geneva unchanged in seventh, Osaka down two in eighth and Zurich and Oslo unchanged in ninth and 10 places respectively.
The survey measures the comparative costs of more than 200 items including rent, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
For example, the most expensive fast-food hamburger in a leading city is to be found in Copenhagen while the cheapest is in Beijing. Moscow serves the most expensive cup of coffee, with the cheapest being found in Buenos Aires.
Monthly rental of a luxury two-bedroom unfurnished apartment is most expensive in Tokyo and cheapest in Johannesburg, where it costs less than a quarter of the Tokyo price.